Educational Establishments
College was a place I’d set my sights on so, when a position fell vacant, I applied and was lucky enough to get it”
“Lancing
The gothic style chapel dominates the local landscape
coached the cricket at Wellington and was involved at all levels,” recalls James. “Cricket is my passion, so the Wellington job was a perfect one for me. I loved my time there and only left because I had little chance of progressing whilst Peter was still there.”
James Cowie
working with half the budget but have double the acreage to maintain”
“We are 90 PC JUNE/JULY 2013
“I passed my HNC in Sports Turf Management at Wellington and learned a huge amount from the staff there, but I needed more responsibility. It took Peter four years to let me work on the first team square.” Keen to progress his career, James applied for a position at Licensed Victuallers’ School, Ascot (LVS) in 2006, where he became head groundsman at the tender age of twenty-four. For three and a half years he remained in the post before moving on again to climb the ladder. “The LVS job really changed the way I looked at my work,” he explains. “The management side of things, being responsible for many different aspects of the job and of staff gave me a thorough grounding for my development as a head.” He adds: “The gardening aspect of the job at Lancing is quite different and is expected in the school environment, so to better tackle those demands, I took evening classes to gain my Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardening certificate whilst at LVS. It took me two years, but was well worth it.” Growing up in the country, James was drawn to the life Lancing College offered, so when the opportunity knocked for a potential move to Sussex, he took it. “LVS absorbed a new school at Sayers Common [near Burgess Hill, West Sussex] so I travelled there to help with the grounds and fell in love with the area,” he says. “The community feel of the school really appealed, as did the countryside. Lancing was a place I’d set
my sights on so, when a position fell vacant, I applied and was lucky enough to get it.”
James was offered the position of head
groundsman in 2009, providing him with the perfect opportunity to take on the level of responsibility he craved, at a school with a cricketing focus and one with a desire to improve and invest in its sports facilities, albeit on a slightly more modest budget than he had grown accustomed to. “We are working with half the budget than that at LVS,” he reveals, “but have double the acreage to maintain. This isn’t a problem, but it means I’ve forged good relationships with other heads of department to put forward the strongest case possible when we need extra funds.” “The big challenge here is that everything has to look pristine and be functional, which includes all areas where pupils and staff go, including the gardens of the onsite educational staff.” James heads up a team of seven; two
gardeners and five groundsmen, including his promising young deputy Shawn Town, who, at twenty-four, is already working on his NVQ level 3 and strives to be, in his own words, “the best groundsman in the country”.
James is fortunate that he has youth on his side; he’s young enough to relate to the pupils, and it’s clear that he’s already built up a strong rapport with many of them, which not only enhances his standing amongst colleagues but also signals a growing awareness of groundsmen and grounds maintenance, engendering a more active involvement among pupils. “There’s a strong community feel here, I was welcomed into the school very quickly,” he explains. “One memory that will stick with me happened recently when I took part in my first school
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